CFT President Jeff Freitas reminds teacher recruitment summit that wages matter
With severe staffing shortages continuing to impact school districts across the state, this week State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond hosted a teacher recruitment summit at the California Department of Education and formally launched a coalition to further engage in direct recruitment of teacher candidates statewide.
CFT President Jeff Freitas took part in the summit and during his remarks reminded state officials and those tackling the issue from throughout the state that wages matter.
“We have an education staffing crisis. We were seeing it coming like it was a weather pattern, and it is here. We have a lack of staffing—teachers, classified staff, fully certificated counselors, bus drivers, and custodians…,” said Jeff Freitas during his remarks. “Since the 1990s, housing costs in California have gone up 300 percent, but wages for school employees have not matched that even by half.”
“I want to thank Superintendent Thurmond and all the organizations here supporting this and helping us move forward to make sure public education is what we prioritize in the state and to provide an education that students deserve,” he concluded.
We continue to push for the passage of AB 938 in Sacramento, a bill sponsored by CFT and authored by Al Muratsuchi that would increase funding for K-12 salaries by 50% over 7 years – giving our schools the chance to attract and retain the high quality staff that our students need to be successful.
Back to School Tour this week included stops in Gilroy, SF, and Salinas
Thanks to the CFT members who welcomed CFT officers to their schools and worksites this week as part of week two of the CFT Back to School Tour. Officers visited paraprofessionals in Gilroy at their annual luncheon, Pre-k and TK teachers and families in San Francisco, and CTE teachers and students in Salinas.
Check out this video from the visit in Salinas and for more photos, see our Facebook photo album. Pictured above: Gilroy Federation of Paraeducators members are all smiles as they take part in their annual union luncheon to kick off the school year.
Take action for healthy, sustainable, and climate friendly schools
Please take a moment to sign the CFT petition urging Governor Newsom and Assemblymember Holden to support the passage of SB 394 to create a Statewide Master Plan for Healthy, Sustainable, and Climate-Resilient Schools.
As California’s climate changes and extreme weather events such as heat, smoke, and flooding intensify, our aging public school infrastructure is increasingly unable to provide a healthy and safe learning environment. This threatens our health and safety as teachers and school staff and has serious, life altering impacts on our students.
Sign the petition here.
